Friends in Italy... Part One

Colloseum

So my two friends arrived this weekend... Tamara on Saturday from Toronto, and Stacey on Sunday from Miami... and we're having a blast! It's one thing to be in Italy enjoying myself and meeting new people, but its something else entirely getting to share it with people from home...

On Saturday night after Tamara arrived at the Rome airport, we had dinner and drinks near the pantheon. It was "happy hour", which meant that cocktails went from being "ridiculously expensive" to "moderately expensive". Later on that night, we attempted to find one of Rome's infamous Pub Crawls. Wandering aimlessly around the city center, a girl suddenly came up to us and said "you look like you're looking for the pub crawl!". Wild... so we joined the group of Brits and Canadians (a bunch from Brampton... small world!) and had a great time.

I went to the airport early the next morning to meet Stacey who is in Europe for the first time ever! I'm honored to be her first-time tour guide. Once we got back and checked into our hotel with Tamara, we went out for a rigorous day of Roman sight-seeing, including the colosseum, the pantheon, the trevi fountain, and the spanish steps. By evening we were aching and exhausted, and quite happy to go to dinner at the restaurant I'd read good reviews of and made reservations at. The restaurant was called the Taverna dei Fori Imperiali. It ended up being fantastic (Stacey's gnocchi with black truffle and veal ragu being the hit of the night) and the restaurant had pictures on the walls of celebrities who had eaten there, like Al Pacino and Woody Allen. After dinner we stopped by a great wine shop near the Trevi Fountain, where the friendly staff forced samples on us... truffle spread, cheese, olive oil, liqueurs, wine... we ended up buying a bottle of white to enjoy by the Trevi Fountain.

Yesterday morning We caught the train from Rome to Florence, and then tried to find our hotel. I get a little disoriented in the area north of the station, so I had to stop and ask to make sure we were headed in the right direction. I stopped at one little shop where the man responded to my question "which way is Via Guido Monaco?" (asked politely in Italian) with an abrupt "beh?" multiple times. I finally gave up with him and ran to a hotel nearby to ask, while Stacey and Tamara waiting by the abrupt man's shop. Apparently he came outside to tell them that he wouldn't help me because I "wasn't nice". I didn't realize my direction requests were rude...

We found the hotel, and it's really fantastic, especially considering the great price we got our room for. Once we settled in, we set out for some lunch. I planned on taking the girls to the truffled sandwich place I discovered last month, only to discover that it's CLOSED for the holidays! It closed three days ago! Devastating. So we ended up grabbing a bite on the scenic rooftop terrace of the Rinascente. Then we wandered around, through the leather market by the Porcellino, where Stacey bought a fabulous leather bag. I'm tempted to get my own, in a different colour... it's about time I had a grown-up bag to carry my laptop and stuff in. I have a few days to mull it over though. Then we wandered over ponte vecchio, and then headed to Vivoli, my gelato place, which was... CLOSED FOR HOLIDAYS AS OF YESTERDAY! COULD MY LIFE GET ANY WORSE? Ok I'm being dramatic. But still. So upsetting. I feel like I let the girls down. Today I'm going to find another good gelato place that I went to before...

Then we made our way back to the hotel, via the station where we did a bit of shopping. Stopped by the Conad supermarket and picked up some 1 euro cartons of wine. For dinner we went to a restaurant on the other side of the Arno that I'd read good reviews of, called Quattro Leoni. Despite cranky service (they wouldn't bring us olive oil for our bread if we didn't pay, and they brought Stacey's main at the same time as our appetizers) the food was really good! Tamara and Stacey were big fans of my pappa al pomodoro (traditional Tuscan tomato and bread stew). After dinner, we stopped by a trendy-looking little gelateria nearby where Stacey had great mint gelato made with fresh mint. Then we took our cartons of 1 euro wine to the bridge and enjoyed the view and the company for a few hours.

Today at noon, an old friend from elementary/highschool, Heather, and her friend from university, Jenelle, arrive in Florence as a part of their current eurotrip. Should be fun!

Colloseum

Extraordinary repairs...?

View from Piazza Venezia

Enjoying some evening wine by the Trevi Fountain

Scary doll!

One-euro wine in Florence

Sten, a well-known Roman graffiti artist

Ustica and Scuba Diving

Super proud of myself for wriggling into that wetsuit

Yet another exhausting day here in Sicily! I must be crazy for planning such a busy vacation for myself!

I woke up at the crack of dawn (6:30), got dressed, wolfed down breakfast, and then went down to the harbour to buy a ticket for the hydrofoil to Ustica Island (about a 90 minute journey). I got my ticket and set out to where the boats were, but I wasn't sure exactly where to go so I asked two old men that were walking the same direction. They said they were headed to the same boat, so just follow them (how convenient). We got to talking, and it turned out they were filmmakers doing a documentary on Ustica Island, and they've made documentaries on a number of other islands in the area. Upon talking further, I found out that one of them is also an author, and he gave me a copy of his book that he had on him! The title is Quando Parlano le Nuvole (When the Clouds Speak). I read the back and the first few pages. It seems like a very nice book contemplating the serenity of life... A lovely souvenir.

[Side note: The other day when I was at the Contemporary Art Museum with Carolina and Giulia, we went into the giftshop/bookshop afterwards. I said to Carolina "I can't allow myself to buy any books! There's just no space in my suitcase!" and no sooner were the words out of my mouth, than my eyes swept across a fantastic book about Italian street art I had never seen before. I'm fairly confident that I own most of the books that exist about graffiti and street art, so seeing something brand new was thrilling, and of course, I had to have it. It's called Street Art Diary by Marta Gargiulo. Between that and the book I received from Massimo Romano this morning, my packing situation just got a whole lot worse. At least they aren't too big...]

Anyways, the ride to Ustica was uneventful. When we arrived, I found the stairs up to the town (there is only one... population of about 1300 people. 90% of the island's inhabitants live in the town). The town is adorable, with one big main square with shops and restaurants and a church (of course) and then tons of little side streets. These side streets are an absolute joy to wander, because most of the buildings have beautiful murals painted on the sides! It's really fantastic. I've included a bunch of pictures of these murals below (and this is just a small sampling of the murals that exist in this tiny town).

I also wandered a little bit out of the town to an adjacent peak of the volcanic island and got some more nice pictures.

Already tired by noon, I went back into town for lunch. I had asked several locals where the best restaurant is for lunch. They all pointed me to the same place. It's an absolute shame I don't like seafood, because I'm pretty sure it would have blown my mind here. But alas... To start I had a sheep's milk cheese lightly breaded and fried. It was ok, but a bit too rubbery. My main course was very good. I had Spaghetti with Ustica-style pesto (olive oil, basil, garlic, tomato, and almonds). It had a wonderful fresh tomato taste, but with none of the goopy fresh tomato chunks I despise. Very nice.

I took a long time at lunch because I was reading my book (and because apparently it's standard procedure in Sicily to wait at least an hour for your bill after finishing your meal...) so when I was done, I headed back down to the harbour for my scuba diving adventure. I was both excited and nervous... I've only scuba dived once or twice before, about 6 years ago in Samoa. Plus there was the added worry of the language barrier which could create problems with the exchange of such important information as how to breathe underwater.

It all went fantastically though. My scuba instructor was Jean-Claude, a swiss man. Between the two of us and our knowledge of english, french, and italian, we communicated just fine. Also on the boat were about 8 other experienced divers who were doing their own dives. Once we reached the dive site, the other divers took off, and Jean-Claude and I began our lesson (beginning with the tedious process of me wriggling into a wetsuit, very heavy weight belt, and even more heavy heavy heavy equipment. We quickly got in the water and got underwater. Besides the pressure in my head (to be expected) and a killer foot cramp, everything went smoothly. It was so beautiful, and it was great to remember how much I love scuba diving... it's so serene and quiet under the water. We saw tons of fish. Big fish. Small fish. Jellyfish. I wished I had been more successful beforehand in finding an underwater case for my camera. Oh well... Next time...

After everyone finished diving, we enjoyed beers on the roof of the boat, and then headed back to harbour where I promptly caught the last hydrofoil returning to Palermo.

After showering off all the salt water, it was after 9pm, and I hadn't eaten dinner. I decided I'd just have a gelato dinner. I went to the shop nearby and asked for the fantastic biscottino (cookies and cream) gelato I had the other night. To my dismay, there wasn't a single molecule of cookie in it. I teetered on a fine line between rage and devastation, and then figured that was probably a valid sign that I'm legitimately exhausted. So after this post is done I am off to sleep. Tomorrow I get to sleep in and check out of my hotel at noon. Then I'll have a leisurely lunch, after which I have scheduled a much-needed pedicure (my feet are downright scary right now... occupational hazard). Then at 6:30 I hop on another 13 hour night train back to Rome where I will be greeting two of my good friends who arrive this weekend, Stacey and Tamara... Keep checking in for tales of our travels in Rome, Florence, Siena, Venice, and Milan!

Baci!

Murals

Murals

Murals

I just loved this dilapidated wall

Murals

Murals

Murals

Murals

Murals

Murals

Murals

Main square of Ustica Town

View of Ustica Town from a peak I walked to on the island

Church of Ustica Town

The harbour

Murals

Cool rock formation I saw from the diving boat on the way to the dive site 

All ready to dive!

Work Work Work

Although I love my job here, I'm thrilled to be through this work week finally! I've had a tour nearly every day, all of them huge groups, and all of them in Italian. As a result, my Italian has very much improved just over the last couple days.

My job is about 50% knowledgeable tour guide, and 50% shepherd. The second part is the hardest. At the beginning of each tour I implore the visitors to please STAY TOGETHER and WALK QUICKLY with me between art works so that it doesn't take forever. Some groups are able to do this well, but in most groups, there are some serious laggards. You'd think that the oldest people would be the laggards, but it's definitely not the case... gli anziani (the elderly) are real troopers, and its younger people who drive me insane trying to get them to please hurry up. It's definitely going to change the way I view tours in the future. It's pretty selfish when people think they deserve to spend 5 extra minutes on their own with each artwork after the group has moved on, not only because there are 40 outdoor works so 5 minutes each = an extra few hours, but also because then they get lost and don't know where the group went, and I have to run back and find them.

This job is also an interesting psychological/social experiment, like Miranda told us on our first day. You see some interesting characters and get asked some interesting questions. One girl today had the most daft questions for me that there was no way I'd know the answer to. Like, "What is the depth of this part of the pond?" and "how did the artist move that piece to there?". It's also really funny when visitors ask questions I've already answered and the other visitors yell at them... for example (in Italian) "you idiot! she already told us it's by Luigi Mainolfi! And she clearly pointed out that aspect of the work! How could you miss it?!".

Another thing I find hilarious is that there are people who seem to think that this is a haunted pumpkin patch visit rather than a private contemporary site-specific art collection visit. They seem to expect that I'm going to try to spook them with something. There's one work out in the olive field by Bukichi Inoue titled My Sky Hole that is a long outdoor passage that leads into a windy indoor underground passage that leads to stairs which lead to a glass cube above ground. I have to stay behind to close the entrance door after the group has entered the tunnel, because we always close doors here, and I've had quite a few visitors panic and say "what's going to happen now??" as if the boogieman is going to jump out. I calmly respond "we're going to walk through the art work".

I do like that this job requires to speak very loudly... it's one of my fortes (pun totally intended). Quite often on Italian tours, people don't give me a chance to find my words and so they try to finish alllllll my sentences. I just raise the volume and drown them out. It works pretty well. I also meet some very nice people and get to work on my tan.

I'm starting to feel a bit like Bianca Neve (Snow White) here... not only because I'm pasty pasty white (despite being abbronzata (tanned) my my standards) but because all the woodland creatures are drawn to me for some reason. I literally have a memorable wildlife experience once daily. One day was the hedgehog, another was the lizard in the bathroom.

Then there was the day that I was taking a tour group out to the artwork by Alan Sonfist titled Circles of Time that tells the story of tuscany through various circles, starting at the center with a circle of the 14 oldest varieties of plants of tuscany, then a ring of thyme, then a ring of laurel, then a ring of rock, a ring of wheat, and a ring of olive trees. As I was walking over, a MASSIVE green snake (definitely the same length as my armspan) slithered over the rocks and up into the laurel, where it sat at eye level by the entrance and just stared. Needless to say, we didn't go inside the laurel ring that day. It was pretty cool in an ancient adam-and-eve kind of way.

Yesterday my wildlife encounter was going through a cave and having a bat fly out right in front of me. Today it was a bombo (bumblebee) the size of my face (seriously!) that followed me around for 10 minutes. He must have been super into the art work I was describing.

Anyways. Now I'm finally done what will probably be the most work-heavy week of my time here, and my next 2 weeks are going to be awesome!! I have an english tour next week, and then June 2nd is my birthday. Since June 2nd is also a national holiday, I'm going to go out in Florence with Katie and some of my Florence friends on the night of the 1st, since less people will have to work the next day. Maybe I'll get lucky again and see Jwoww and Snookie on my birthday! Then 2 days later I'm heading to Rome for a night in a hotel because early the next morning I leave for Split, Croatia!!! I'm so so so excited. A few days after I come back from that, Katie and I are going to go down to Rome for a night for their Pride week. I imagine it's going to be quite different from Toronto's! Then the next week my parents and their friends are coming to visit. I'm even giving them a private tour of the collection. And hopefully they'll bring some of the stuff I'm running low on (...mom! I need face wash, more earplugs, and sun screen please! Basically whatever's in that bag I left at the house... thanks!). The other new excitement in my life is that I've just booked a trip to Palermo, Sicily for the first week of August. I'll be spending 13 hours on a train (but I will have a bed on the train) and then about 4 days in Palermo. I'll also try to get to Taormina while I'm there.

Now I'm going for a much needed nap. Ciao tutti!

Yet Another Lovely Weekend

Out on the town :)

Yesterday after a miserable tour (half of the "very trendy" Italian participants clearly had no interest in being there) the September intern Carolina picked up Katie and I and took us into Pistoia. She showed us this GREAT bar where 5 euros gets you a glass of wine AND a plate which you may then proceed to pile with delicious snacky food from the bar buffet. (The plate itself is super cool.. one of those foam things that's shaped like an artist's palette with a hole on one side that holds your wine glass so you can actually hold both and have a hand free to eat and at the same time). Then at about 11pm we had some sandwiches at a very busy restaurant, sat on the patio, and had an all-around good time. Afterwards Carolina offered to let us stay at her place since it was too late to go back to Celle (the gatehouse people are usually in bed by about 10pm). Carolina has an awesome yellow lab named Wendy.

This morning we came back and have managed to squeeze in a bit of sunbathing. Now I'm heading back into Pistoia for dinner with my cousin David again. Sort of dreading this upcoming week... I'm going to be extremely busy with afternoon Italian tours nearly every day, plus some office work. Wednesday I've got the day off and I'm going to a hairdresser in Florence, so that will be fun, yet also an exhausting day.

Ciao tutti

The Cuz Does Celle and Florence

David and I at Piazzale Michelangelo

Hung out with my cousin from Scotland some more the last two days. Yesterday he came for a tour with a group of Germans from an art association. They were awesome and the tour was enjoyed by all. Afterwards, David Katie and I went for some chocolate cake and cookies and stuff from the chocolate shop next door. Then today David and I went to Florence and we managed to do the "Duncan Tour" (if you know my family and our concise, speedy ways, you'll understand). I showed him the San Lorenzo market, Piazza Duomo, Piazza Signoria, Ponte Vecchio, we had lunch in Piazza Santo Spirito, went to see the view from Piazzale Michelangelo, went to see Piazza Santa Croce, had best gelato ever at Vivoli, and had a bottle of wine on the Terrazza of the Rinascente (Florence secret... ask me about it if you're ever in town). Now I'm exhausted and need a shower, so ciao tutti.

David on tour of Gori Collection

View of Villa Celle from the Chocolate Shop, Rosso e Nero

My dessert from Rosso e Nero. That's right. I got cake AND a cookie.

David's cake from Rosso e Nero

Katie's cake from Rosso e Nero

Graffiti near San Lorenzo, Florence

David's pasta "with prawn sauce" at Piazza Santo Spirito

My ravioli with crumbled almond biscotti and ribbons of dried salted beef at Santo Spirito

 

Santa Croce

First solo tours!

Yesterday I had my first solo tour, in English. I had two German ladies and two ladies from Paris. They were all very nice and the French ladies even tipped me a bit! In 20 minutes I have my first solo Italian tour and I'm freaking out a bit. But soon it will be over and then a great weekend lies ahead! Tonight we're going to an inauguration of a fountain by Daniel Buren, and then we're spending the night at Miranda's place in Prato so we can easily hop on the train to Florence tomorrow.

Everything else here is great... enjoying being able to step outside and pick some lemons and basil for dinner each night. Enjoying the fact that the forecast has continually called for rain but we haven't seen a drop. Even enjoying my €5 5L jug of wine.

I've also just booked a trip to Split, Croatia for the beginning of June and I'm SO EXCITED! I found an amazing-looking hostel called Golly-Bossy Design Hostel. Check out their pictures... so cool! I've also tried to book a €35 flight to Barcelona for the end of June, but, long story short, I don't think my transaction went through and RyanAir makes it literally impossible to contact them. I'll wait and see if it shows up on my visa bill, and if not then I'll do something else.

Time for Italian tour! Ciao ciao.

Chillin' with Warhol, Barni, Penck, Gilbert & George

Yesterday morning Miranda began showing us the artworks around the main floor of the fattoria. Many of the rooms don't get shown to visitors because the visits are supposed to be of the site-specific works, and several of the indoor works are not site-specific. The collection is incredible! Room after room of a variety of impressive works. There are quite a few Sol Le Witt sculptures, a portrait of Signor Gori done by Warhol, as well as works by Roberto Barni, Enrico Cucchi, A. R. Penck, Vanessa Beecroft, Gilbert & George, Gerhard Richter, Christo and a fantastic piece by Guo Wei that you may have seen before. And these are just a small fraction of the indoor works on the property!

Lunch was, again, incredible. The housekeepers have a magical ability to make foods that i hate absolutely delicious. Artichoke risotto, artichoke frittata, and a plate of toasted bread topped with a mixture of roughly smashed cauliflower, tons of garlic, and tons of olive oil.

After lunch Katie and I followed our first (English) tour, although it was an abridged version. I now feel much more comfortable about the tours and am really excited! This morning we'll be following our first full-length Italian tour. Hopefully by the end of today we will have actually seen most of the art works here.

Baci!

Primo Giro (First Tour)

Yesterday Katie and I decided to spend our afternoon doing a walk around the entire property to see all the art (or as much as we could). Today we'll be tagging along for our first official tour, with an English-speaking group (led by Miranda of course). There really are no words to describe how incredible this place is, and pictures don't do it justice either... (fyi, you can click on images to make them larger

Olive Orchard

Bird of Paradise